10 Facts About Air Pollution

We get many questions about air pollution in the Smart Air office–understandably so. It’s a topic that isn’t well understood or well-reported about in certain parts of the countries in which we work. In some cases, it is difficult to distinguish research-backed findings from common misconceptions–misconceptions that sometimes even get repeated in the media. To contribute to collective learning, here is a quick list of top 10 facts about air pollution.

10 Facts About Air Pollution

Air pollution is made up of chemicals, particulates, and biological materials. Common components include, but are not limited to: nitrogen, sulfur, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, dust, and ash.

Air pollution is caused by both human and natural contributors. Industries, factories, vehicles, mining, agriculture, forest fires, volcanic eruptions, and wind erosion all cause air pollution.

According to the Global Burden of Disease report (2013), air pollution contributes to more than 5.5 million premature deaths every year. Another report by the International Energy Agency estimates the number to be 6.5 million deaths per year.

Over half of India’s population—660 million people—live in areas with unsafe levels of air pollution.

On average, Indians living in polluted areas will lose 3.2 years of their lives due to air pollution.

In 2014, India and China tied at 155 among 178 nations in rankings measuring how countries are tackling air pollution in the world, despite both countries having some of the worst air quality in the world.

Pregnant women who live in high traffic areas have a 22% higher risk of having children with impaired lung function than those living in less polluted areas.

How To Protect Yourself

Smart Air is a certified B Corp committed to combating the myths big companies use to artificially inflate the price of clean air. Smart Air provides empirically backed, no-nonsense purifiers and masks, helping to lower the cost of clean air. These three simple steps can dramatically reduce the amount of air pollution you breathe:

Get the latest clean air tips!

Bhumi spent several years working with small-holder farmers in India, Kenya, and Sierra Leone. She recently returned to India to work on governance reforms. She helps Smart Air with social media outreach, grant proposals, and anything else that comes along.

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Thanks for sharing such a important post i am researching on Air pollution and i got good post.

Thank you from

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2019-12-18 3:08 pm

Ethel - Smart Air

You’re welcome! Happy to know this is helping your research.

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2019-12-23 11:33 am

rashishetty

Thanks for sharing this Article and here is some information about AAQMS.

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2019-06-25 5:49 pm

Anees Shah

Nice Information!! Environmental Pollution already Causes More Deaths than Smoking. A scientific study found that environmental pollution doubles the estimated figures and kills an average of 8.8 million people per year. It also decreases people’s lives by two years.

About Smart Air

Smart Air is a social enterprise based in China, India, Mongolia and the Philippines that creates simple, no-nonsense air purifiers and provides free education to combat the impacts of air pollution.
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